Meat-curiitg machine



Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

COLUMBIA c0., WASHINGTON. D. c.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Paten'ted Sept. 9, 1919.

M. F. SERVATIU-S.

MEAT CURING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILE-D NOV. 3. 1917.

r ion.

MICHAEL E. SERVATIUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MEAT-ermine MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 9, 1919.

Application filed November 3, 1917. Serial No. 200,011.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that 1, MICHAEL F. SERVA- TIUs, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Meat-Curing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for injecting a preserving or curing fluid into meat, such as those used, for example, in making corned beef, and is an improve ment on the machine shown in Patent No.

1,126,579,- granted January 26, 1915, and in co-pending application No. 159,023, filed April 2, 1917.

Generally stated, the object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a noveland improved meat-curing machine of the foregoing general character.

Another object is to provide a novel construction and arrangement whereby the mechanism will be simplified, and rendered more certain of operation and less liable to get out of order, and whereby the cost of manufacture will be reduced.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general of ficiency and desirability of a meat-curing machine of this particular construction.

To these and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed. 7

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a meatcuring machine embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section on line 22 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the mechanism shown in Fig. 2, with a casing shown in horizontal section.

Fig. 4C is a vertical section, on a larger scale, on line H in Fig. 2, with a portion of the pump cylinder shown broken away to illustrate the internal construction thereof. u

Fig. 5 1s an enlarged section on line 5-0 in Flg. 2.

As thus illustrated, this invention comprises a receptacle or body A, preferably wedge-shaped in cross-section (see 1 1g. 4.),

so that it can be crowded downward between barrels or boxes, or other objects, in a convenient manner, if so desired. As shown, said receptacle is removably mounted on legs or uprights B which rest on the floor, and a foot-lever C is pivoted at 0 near the base of one of said legs and connected byan upright rod 1 with the crank-arm D by which the internal mechanism of the machine is operated. The injecting needle or piercing member E projects upward through the top of the receptacle in position to penetrate the meat (see Fig. 1), and is movable up and down by the operation of said foot-leteia The mechanism for operating said needle or piercing member E is as follows :-A frame F is supported on brackets f suitably secured to the inner surfaces of the sides of the receptacle, and upon the brackets 2 secured to the end wall of the receptacle. The vertically disposed pump-barrel G is removably mounted on this frame F, and is provided internally with a plunger 9 connected by a pitman 3 with the crank-arm ti on the transverse shaft 5, which latter is suitably mounted in bearings on said frame. In the pump-barrel, below the plunger ,9. a coil-spring 6 is disposed in position to yieldingly resist the downward motion of the said plunger and to automatically raise the plunger. The lower end of said pump-barrel has an inlet 7 controlled by ball checkvalve 8, whereby upward movement of the plunger will draw the liquid in the receptacle upward through the inlet 7 and into the pump, but the downward movement of the plunger 9' forces the ball 8 into the top of the inlet 7, closing the latter, so that such movement of the plunger will force the liquid out of the discharge opening 9 near the bottom of the pump-barrel, and then upward through the flexible tube and clownward to the bottom of the hollow piercing member E (see Fig. 5), so that the liquid will be injected into the meat. This needle or piercing member E slides up and down in the guide-tube e, which latter has its upper end suitably secured to the frame F and is provided at one side thereof with a slot 10 in which the strip 1] slides up and down. This strip 11 is movably secured by 1 screws 12 to the side of the hollow piercing member E, and is provided with a dewith a head at its outer end and which extends through the curved slot 14: of the curved arm 15, the latter having its upper end mounted on the rock-shaft 5, previously described. Coil-springs 16 connect the arm 15 with the frame F, in such manner that the tension of these springs is exerted to throw the arm upward, whereby said springs furnish the power to move the needle or piercing member E upward, said arm being loose on said shaft. A stop or shoulder 17 is provided on one side of the arm 15, immediately below said shaft 5, and the arm 1 is provided with a portion to engage the top of this stop or shoulder, so that upward movement of the arm 4, when the plunger 9 is moved upward by the heavy coil-spring 6, will move the arm 15 and the member E downward (see Fig. 2). It will be under stood that during the up and down movements of the member E, the pin or screw 13 travels (relatively) back and forth in the slot 1 1, the latter acting as a cam to force the member E either upward or downward. A transverse supporting member 18 is rotatably mounted on the frame F, at a point between the member E and the shaft 5, and is provided at one end with a disk 19 having slots 20 and 21 in the edge thereof; The swinging stop 22 is supported on said element 18, to swing freely back and forth with the rotation or oscillation thereof, and is adapted at its lower end to engage the notch 23 in the forward edge of the arm 15, thereby to limit the upward movement of the lat ter, and thus limit the upward insertion of the member E into the meat. The stop 22 is held in this position by a pivoted arm 2st mounted on the frame F and adapted to swing into engagement with the notch 20, in the manner shown. When the disk 19 is rotated sufliciently to carry the stop 22' into a horizontal position, with its end engaging the edge of the arm 15, the pivoted arm 24 can be swung down into engagement with the notch 21, and in this condition of the mechanism the member E cannot rise, the mechanism being locked against operation; but at such time the pump-plunger 1 can be moved downward by the operation of the foot-lever. The arm D is on one end of the shaft 5, and in this way the operation of the foot-lever serves to rock said shaft and thereby operate both the pump and the piercing member.

In operation, the meat is placed on the flat removable cover I of the receptacle, and

by pressing down the foot-lever C the piercmeat.

ing member E is forced upward into the At the same time, the downward movement of the plunger 9 in the pump forces the liquid through the flexible tube H and then upward through the piercing member E and into the meat.

Of course, the lower end of the tube 11 is preferably provided with a check-valve (see Fig. 1) of any-suitable character, to prevent the fluid from flowing back into the pump when the piston or plunger is raised. Obviously, however, the two valves can be of any suitable character and can be located in any suitable or desired manner in the inlet and outlet passages of the pump, whereby liquid is drawn into the pump when the plunger is raised and then forced out of the pump when the plunger goes downward.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A meat-curing machine comprising a support, a vertically disposed tubular guide having its upper end secured to said support, a hollow piercing member movable up and down in said tubular guide, with the lower end of said member extending below the lower end of said guide, devices for operat ing said member up and down in said guide, and means to supply the curing fluid to said member.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said devices comprising a swinging cam and means on said member to engage said cam.

3. A meat-curing machine comprising a receptacle, a supporting frame mounted in said receptacle, a pump-barrel having its upper end secured to said frame, a guide having its upper end secured to said frame, a hollow piercing member adapted to slide up and down in said guide, a plunger in said pump-barrel, a flexible connection from the lower end of the pump-barrel to the lower end of said piercing member, and manually operable mechanism supported on said frame to operate the said pump-plunger and said member,

4. A structure as specified in claim 3, said mechanism comprising (1) a transverse rockshaft, (2) an arm loosely mounted on said shaft, (3) spring means to swing said arm upward, (4) sliding connection between said arm and said member, (5) an arm on said shaft to operate said plunger, (6) means to rock said shaft, and (7) a spring to force said plunger upward and to thereby operate said arm and move said member downward.

5. In a meat-curing machine, a hollow piercing member, means to supply a curing liquid to said member, a swinging cam, and means on said member to engage said cam, whereby said member is operated by said cam.

6. A structure as specified in claim 5, said cam consisting of a curved arm having a curved slot to engage said means.

7 A structure as specified in claim 5, and an adjustable stop device adapted to be moved into position to limit the upward motion of said cam, and adapted to be moved into another position to prevent any motion of said cam.

8. A structure as specified in claim 5, in combination with a rock-shaft upon which said cam is loosely mounted, spring means on said shaft to actuate said cam to force said member into the meat, means on said shaft to actuate said cam in the opposite direction, and means to oscillate said shaft.

Signed by me at Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, this 31st day of October, 1917.

MICHAEL F. SERVATIUS.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. 0. 

